The announcement about the strike comes only days after the EU and Norway strengthened their energy cooperation, in light of the military conflict in Ukraine and the EU’s determination to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, intending to ban almost 90 % of Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.
The strike would involve close to 200 member of the Lederne union and was set to cut gas production by 292,000 bbl of oil equivalent per day.
However, the impact will be greater on natural gas markets because of the vital importance of Norwegian supply, which has only grown since Russia - Europe's biggest supply source - started to cut shipments in retaliation for western sanctions that followed its invasion of Ukraine.
The industrial action would affect work at the Gudrun, Oseberg South, Oseberg Northeast, Heidrun, Aasta Hansteen and Kristin fields – with all facilities then having to shut down.
The Norwegian government has said it was following the conflict «closely», it can intervene to stop a strike if there are exceptional circumstances.
Norway produces some 2 million barrels of oil and other hydrocarbon liquids daily, a disruption in its output would have pushed oil prices even higher.
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